Kicking Horse Cup - Cyclocross this weekend!

First  CX races of the season are this weekend in Golden! It's not to late too register. Technical guide is up. Do it!

http://www.kickinghorsecup.com/cyclo-cross.php

Mt Revelstoke Steamer Hill climb September 9th!!

This is must for everyone. It is an individual hill climb up Mt. Revelstoke. The views are amazing, food is excellent, the event is very relaxed and well organized. I went for the first time last year and enjoyed it so much just have to go back. We're hoping to get everyone accomidations at the same place to enhance to social aspect and trash talk. So post a reply here and stay in the loop!

The link for the event and registration is here: http://flowt.org./Flowt_web_page/Events.html

No license is required for those who do not yet have one!!!

Hurry and register buy the end of this week and get a really nice, ultra cool and super sexy T-shirt!!! I know eh!

Harley 403-880-7695

Weekend Cross Ride

The Kettle Cross race up in Edmonton is fast approaching! Interested in doing the Powderface Road  Elbow Valley loop at the end of 66 for a long ride on the cross bike?

Where: Elbow Valley (end of 66)
When: 9am on Sunday morning (Sept-2)

PDF Map
Description

I'll be bringing a better map on the day of. Comment if you're planning to come so I know to expect you!

Edit: Thomas has suggested the Powderface Road as an alternative; the Little/Big Elbow Valley loop could result in a bit of walking.
Edit2: The date was wrong.

Godfrey's Mountainous Annual Monument.

OK, things are slowly shaping up.  First off, this is going to be a family event for me, so that is why the ride times may start earlier than most would think appropriate. Get the ride conquered so I can play. Also, these times are somewhat tentative, so check back here for updates.

Friday evening 6:30pm:   Quarry Lake swim.   Kid's play on the shore while parents do a few loops of the lake.

Sat. morning 9:30am:  Vermillion Crossing to Radium and back.  Drive to Vermillion Crossing and join us there. It is 40km south of Castle Junction. Since this is an 'out and back' you can turn around at the top of the Radium hill and head back to your car if you want. It would be cool to have some company!  Here is the ride.  I will be riding this one straight through since I want to be home in time for (see below) horse back riding. So I will be filling my bottles in Radium and heading out. Mike may be convinced to hang out for longer!

Sat late afternoon:  Horse back riding with the kids in Banff. You can rent a horse for $20 for like an hour and they let you lead it and the kids around!

Sat evening:  Dinner somewhere cool? Email me if you are coming and we'll set something up.

Sunday morning Time (TBA) :  Emerald Lake ride. This is a beauty. The plan is to ride to Emerald Lake and have an amazing meal over-looking the amazing view. Then ride back. Or meet your spouse at the restaurant and have a super meal and drive home. It isn't that long of a ride, so if we all split up, no big deal.

Monday morning  Time (TBA):  Mike is going to lead everyone on a Tour de Banff hills sort of ride. It should be fun and include far far too much climbing... so be sure to come!

Cross-tastic Tuesday

Same time , same place.  Details at the link above.

Godfrey Bike-a-poolooza this weekend.

Team, Mike's Spontaneously Somewhat-Annual Banff/Canmore bike-a-poolooza is tentatively scheduled for this weekend.

Tentatively prepare to be at Castle Junction on Sunday morning possibly for a ride to Radium and back maybe.

Godfrey is going to firm up the possible details with me soon or later so I can post them.

The team's goal will be to make Mike bonk again so we can collect more vocabulary so we fit right in when we enter the British Navy.

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Ironman Canada

Simply amazing performance today by Speed Theorist Ryan Murray and friends Kyle, Scott and James Curran, WOW! Age group domination, top ten performances and race leader! And Darryl!

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Stage 6 - Boulder



 Jens in the lead at the foot of Flagstaff Mountain

Levi behind Tejay, waiting for his moment, Kloden also lurking. They're 2 minutes back on Jens

That's where they're headed.

USA Pro Challenge Report

A business trip to Denver came at the right time. Today in Colorado Springs the race ended with 3 laps of a downtown circuit. Nibali and his little breakaway are about to be caught here with about 10 k to go. The riders dropped down from Breckenridge to Colorado Springs at 6100 feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.BMC pulling the pack along, George's last race I think. Cadel flatted just after this photo was taken, Tejay is hiding. No sign of Jens today

 

Horner was dressed for the high altitude, seemed like overkill though, 85 degrees here. Seems like I was a little too close to these guys, you don't realize it when taking photos.

Tommy D in the KOM jersey. Saturday is a hard day again starting just outside Denver up to Boulder, then over a few mountains, back down into Boulder and finish on Flagstaff Mountain.

If you have read Chris Lear's book - Running with the Buffaloes, Flagstaff Mountain is one of the cross country team's weekly runs. I'm going to run Magnolia Road or the Boulder Reservoir in the morning before the race gets here then later hike up Flagstaff for the finish. 

Voigt still proving his awesomeness !!

Jens Voigt solos to a victory today!  Daaaammmnnnn.....  that's the way to win a race!

From the cyclingnews article:  'as the powerful German mashed his big ring toward the lower slopes of Battle Mountain'.   Pushing a big ring to a mountain named 'Battle'? They didn't even have to say his name in the article, we would have already known who was in the break!

Just remember with all this Lance news in the press today:  Lance was born the day after Jens. However, Jens immediately attacked and on Lance's 13th birthday, Jens was already 16.

Thankfully Jens will be around for a long time for us to continue to enjoy him. Jens will never have a heart attack. His heart isn't stupid enough to attack him.

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Fat Tire Thursday - *CANCELLED*

Sorry peoples something has come up and I have to cancel this ride.

Alright people this is the last foreseeable mountain bike group ride that I'm posting. There may be others in the autumn but who knows.

Where : Station Flats (map)
When: Thursday August 23 - Starting trail at 6:45 sharp Cancelled
What: Ridgeback/Tom Snow trails (doubletrack, singletrack)

I think it's about 15 km, but don't quote me on that. As usual please come prepared with tools, tube, pump etc...

All are welcome to join.  Please comment if you're coming.

JayLap Stage and GC prize money, trophies, medals, and Crit Primes.

OK, I have slowly caught up on time with my family, my own work, some saddle time, and even sleep! I will be working on the prizes from the JayLap over the rest of the week so expect to be getting a bank transfer if you got prize money. I will email you where to pick up medals and trophies and crit primes if you got one as well.

Prize money for the Superweek GC will be determined soon. Joel is on a much needed vacation and when he is back, we'll work on that together. I repeat, Superweek GC Prize money will be done AFTER the JayLap prize money. This way it is separate and clean.

Trev

Cross-tastic Tuesdays

With autumn fast approaching and the seasons first Cyclocross races nearly upon us Fat Tire Tuesday will be herein forth known as Cross-tastic Tuesday.

Bring your Cyclocross or MTB bike to Ramsay School for some CX skills practice, some hop n' hurl, run-ups, dismounts, remounts, step-throughs, shouldering, race starts, off-camber cornering etc. If none of this makes sense or you have no idea what the heck I'm talking about, come and find out.

(Oh yeah I forgot to mention...as Marcy pointed out in her comment...There will be no need for racks, bottle cages, fenders, lights or any other thingys attached to your bike. In fact they will totally get in the way)

Depending on the group we can go over various techniques and skills for Cyclocross. We can do some mock racing and some intervals blasts too. This will be a totally laid back session for fun and practice. I'm by no means an authority on the subject but I can try to be of help for anyone wanting to learn.

When: 6:30pm, Tuesday August 21
Where: Ramsay School (map)


The quintessential compilation of European Cylcocross racing:

2 days in Hinton on the fat tires!!!

I'm looking to do my first MTB race this weekend in Hinton. It is a double header so worth the trip. Looking for some one to travel with. Any takers??? info can be found here. http://www.albertabicycle.ab.ca/events#aug Harley 403-880-7695

It's CX season!!! Fun, fun, fun...

Hello all you STC members with a CX bike,

 It's time to switch modes and get ready to run up hills, hop over barriers and finally master that darn remount!

 Thomas and I are excited to have you join us at  Kicking Horse Village  on September 1 and 2. This race is put on by Alex and Mike from Golden. They are a real swell couple and have put in some hard work to invite us to their hometown (you probably met them at the Jay Lap). Here are the details...

 http://www.kickinghorsecup.com/cyclo-cross.php

Also, we would love to see you all at the Kettle Cross Enduro. This is taking place at the Blackfoot recreation area just 40 km east of Edmonton. Sweet non-technical double track with fantastic views and several distance options. Here are the details...

 http://www.kettle-cross.com/

Thomas, Stephen, Rob and I have a team entered. We need one more person to complete it. The team race is simply all the individual times added up for an overall time. If anyone is interested in doing the full length kettle cx race then join our team!!!

You know what Trev says.....the more you race, the cooler you are!

STC Highlights at ACSW

What a fantastic week of racing! Thanks to all the volunteers and organizers for making it all possible.
In the absence of an official wrap up ceremony, I thought I would do some callouts for some of the outstanding achievements by our own Speed Theory racers this past week. I could not watch every race, so please add comments with other stories about how STC members rocked!

Marc Enter, ghost rider sneaking in for 4th in JayLap crit!

• TdB Hill Climb: 
• Jenn Joss(3) in cat 345 women, 
• Isaac Beall(2), Peter Regier(4) and Derek Jobson(5) owning cat 4.
  
• TdB Road Race: 
• Jenn (4) in cat 345 women, 
• Mike Waldhuber (4) in cat 3, 
• Isaac (2) in cat 4.
  
• TdB Circuit Race: 
• Marc Enter (6) in cat 1/2, 
• Jenn Joss (2) in cat 345 women
  
• TdB Criterium: 
• Isaac Beall (2) in cat 4 - a day after taking a huge spill and having me pile up on top of him at over 50 kmph!
  
• TdB GC: 
• Mike Waldhuber (6) in cat 3, 
• Isaac (2) and Peter (4) in cat 4, 
• Jenn Joss (2) in cat 345 women
  
• ACSW ITT: 
• Bradd Wolff (3) in cat 5, 
• Peter Regier (2) & Rick Courtney (3) in cat 4 (could've had a 3rd in top 4 if Stephen Kenny hadn't missed his start time!), 
• Mike Waldhuber (4) in cat 3, 
• Jenn Joss (3), 
• Trev Williams (6) in cat 1/2.
  
• JayLap Hill Climb:
• Tanya Salomon (2) and Jenn Joss (3) in cat 345 women,
• Mike Waldhuber (4) in cat 3,
• Derek Jobson (5) and Stephen Kenny (6) in cat 4,
• Stephen Picket (5) and Lampros Antoniu(10) in cat 5.
  
• JayLap Criterium:
• Marc Enter (4) in cat 1/2 - getting a great leadout by National Criterium champ, Ben Chaddock!
• Reinier Paauwe (1) and Peter Regier (2) in cat 4 - perfectly executed leadout by Peter who managed to hang on for 2nd!
• Stephen Pickett (3) in cat 5
  
• JayLap Road Race:
• Marc Enter (8) in cat 1/2,
• Jenn Joss (3) in cat 345 women,
• Mike Waldhuber (7) in cat 3,
• Reinier (3) in cat 4,
  
• JayLap GC:
• Mike Waldhuber (4) in cat 3,
• Peter Regier (5), Reinier (6) in cat 4,
• Mark Michalski (6) & Lampros (8) in cat 5,
• Jenn Joss (2) in cat 345 women.
  
• ACSW GC - the whole she-bang! Kudos worth going out to all STC members that survived it!:
• Harley Borley (10) and Thomas Yip (11) in cat 1/2,
• Mike Waldhuber (4) and Matt Joss (8) in cat 3,
• Peter Regier (3), Reinier (5) and Darcy G (8) in cat 4,
• Mark Michalski (5) & Lampros (6) in cat 5,
• Jenn Joss (1) and Marie Michalski (3) in cat 345 women.

I know the results don't tell the whole story, so if there was something someone did that impressed you this week I'd love to hear about it! 

Loved reading Jenn's report earlier, and if you're interested I've recorded some notes about the phenomenal success of the cat 4 team on my blog. 

Also, if anyone has any other links to photos from this great event, please share them!

Michael interviews downtown Criterium racer.

Showing skills far beyond her years, this little Crit Racer gave Michael a great interview after her grueling event. She had the audience laughing when she told the spectators she would only be back next year if her Mom said it was OK.

Super Week for Super Women ... Act Two

From my 2-year experience racing at women's road races, I had concluded that the race will either be a coffee ride for 69.75 km, then a hammer fest for the last .25 km, or a thigh burning, gut busting pace that spits out half the field in about 5 km.

I always thought that the only tactic to road racing was DO NOT GET DROPPED.  Not anymore! On Sunday, strategies were formed, deployed and countered.  It was war and it was the most fun I have had in a race. 

Let me set the stage: Jen, Marie, Marcy, Andrea and myself lined up against Sherri, Tanya and Kailee from Aerobic Powerhouse.  Sure, there were other women in the race, but they were mere mercenaries.  The objective: keep my 30 second lead over Sherri in the SuperWeek.  After a 30-second chat with Jen about strategy, consisting of "you should probably counter Tanya's attacks", we were ready.   

The flurry of attacks started early.  Kailee and Tanya took turns hammering off the front, while the other teammate would sit and block at the front of the pack.  Sherri would then hammer to catch whoever was up the road.  

As the attacks came, Jen and Marie furiously responded, not only chasing down each attack but then putting the hurt on whoever had the gall to try to get away.  Jen buried herself so much chasing down attacks at one point she fell off the back of the pack only to fight for 7 kilometers to get back on.  Little did I realize that as soon as she rejoined the pack, I asked her to help chase down an opportunist, Terra from ERTC, who was up the road.  Being a superhuman, she promptly went to the front just to blow herself up yet again.

As for Marie, not only did she work her butt off the entire race, chasing attacks and working up front (even asking if there was more she could do), she out-sprinted, uphill, two of our friends at Aerobic Powerhouse.  Marie is my hero - brand new to racing and kicking butt!!!  Did I mention that she did ALL of the SuperWeek events?!

Andrea (it was her first race!) and Marcy did awesome.  With a little more help in the back half of the race, they could have done serious damage.  

Thanks so much ladies for such an awesome week on the bike - the Bergen Road Race has been the most fun I've ever been in!  Looking forward to next year where I can destroy myself working for someone else. 

Btw, I kept the GC :)

-Jennifer Joss

  

Tonight's WNS ends at Wildrose Brewery

Tonight is the final installment of the successful Wednesday Night Race series. The 15km ITT is out at Springbank, then once you are cooled down everyone heads STRAIGHT for Wildrose Brewery.

I am not going to race the WNS, but am instead heading straight for Wildrose Brewery at about 8:30pm.

Come and have a drink with me and we can talk about how awesome last weekend was. If you were a volunteer on the weekend, then the club will pick up your drink tab. So head STRAIGHT for Wildrose brewery at 8:30pm.


Trev

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Alberta Cycling Superweek wrap up and dB Performance JayLap GC results.

That was a LOT of a racing! It was great to see so many Albertan cyclists embrace a real superweek or parts of it. For STC's part, we had a very successful 3 races to round up the last three events of the 8 race extravaganza.  Bob from Bowcycle and Joel of Niklas Group did an amazing job of the first 4 races. The addition of the Glenmore Park Circuit Race was quite an undertaking and not an easy feat to pull off, so ensure to thank those guys for going out of their way building on an already great event.

The Crankmasters are the 'masters' of the Time Trial and they didn't disappoint with an excellent, fast, windy, venue on perfect pavement and very little traffic. Some of the times were incredible, David Stephens rode a 25:05 for 20km, with a couple other awesome dudes right behind him.

STC Women after the Road Race. Jenn Joss successfully defended her Pink Jersey!

Then it was our turn! STC on full display and we put on a great show.  The revised Hill Climb course turned out to be an upgrade and one that was very successful. I am still receiving emails about how happy people were with the change. For the record it was 3.7km since I was able to add a little kicker right at the end for some icing on the pain cake. There was absolutely no shortage of suffering on the course. I started in the line up with all the amazing guys and saw they were all in their big rings. So I switched into my big ring for the start... ... .. then switched out about 100m into the course! Looking at photos of David, Bailey McKnight, and the other dudes, they were still in their big rings going up the Springbank wall !!!  Try that one day...holy cow!

Stephen Pickett on the Springbank WALL.

The Criterium was a crazy success and the kids race had me completely satisfied all the long hours were totally worth it. I am really looking forward to seeing some photos. Unleashing over 100 kids on the first wave was such a great thing to watch. Just like Mike said in a previous post, it was just pure cycling without anything but joy. Ben Chaddock did a super job posing for pictures over and over and over and over....    I was fortunate enough this year to hop into the last Crit of the evening and had a super time. I LOVE that course! Fast, fast, fast. 45km in 57min. Pretty neat to be part of that.

The Road Race was the finale of the Superweek and offered a challenging varied course. The beautiful landscape gave the racers something to appreciate while telling their legs and lungs to shut up. Watching from the finish line, the uphill finish capped a great event and a true 'Super Week'.

Alberta Cycling Superweek GC Results

dB Performance JayLap Hill Climb Results

dB Performance JayLap Criterium Results

dB Performance JayLap Road Race Results

dB Performance JayLap Stage Race GC Results

Photo taken by Robert Welch. The first wave of kids about to be unleashed!!

We have awesome trophies and medals for every stage of the JayLap as well as overall. All prize money will be sent out via bank transfer early next week and the hardware will be available for pick up soon. I need to spend my spare time with my daughter over the next few days so the prize money will be taking a back seat for a bit while I catch up on time, but it is coming.

We have an amazing team here at STC and Alberta Cycling is gathering momentum thanks in no small part to people like Joel of Niklas Group and Dennis of dB Performance who are offering their own company's money to further race cycling in our province. More people than most can imagine have donated a lot of their own time to help make an amazing week like this such a super unique opportunity for bike racers. If you know someone who volunteered throughout the course of this week, take them out for a beer and ensure they know you appreciate their efforts.

Thank you to the racers for coming out and making the event an exciting memory and one worth talking about.

Trev

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Life is stressful when...

There is a great deal of work that goes into organizing an event.  One of which, albeit small, is booking the venues.  Not a complex, nor difficult task.  Simple really.

I had reserved the community centre in May, confirmed in June, then traded several phone messages about the best way to pick up the key the week leading up to the event. All seemed in order.

Stephen went up early on Saturday evening in order to get the key prior to the store closing (that's where one picks up the key for the hall).  He is greeted by the note below.  I paraphrase but I believe the first words out of his mouth were..'Are you shitting me?'

He tells the story well.  The wedding speeches were in full swing when Stephen enters the hall.  A hush falls over the crowd and he says "Is there a Maureen here".

Needless to say, there was a "discussion" regarding the fact that 150 riders, spouses, children, EMS and bike race officials will be at the community centre regardless of the note below.

As you may or may not know, my brother Stephen can be quite convincing when need arise.  We had full access to community hall.... 'nough said.

Tom

Funny Things Happen on the Road

What a weekend!

The db Performance Jay Lap races were awesome! Huge props to all the Speed Theory Club members who raced, volunteered, helped organize, came out to cheer and in general supported our chunk of the 1st ever Alberta Cycling Super Week.

Our club, and Trev in particular, were a huge part of this series of 8 races in 10 days coming together (and Tom there were more than a few complaints about who the sick MoFo was that finished 8 races in 10 days with that ghastly uphill finish, in the same breath the same people were saying how much they liked the course, it's hard to please cyclists).

Trev took a lot of heat over our having to change course for the Hill Climb, yet everyone who did it raved about the course. It was hard, offered a variety of challenges and if you really didn't feel like hurting yourself there were some nice views and damn there are some nice houses in that area!

The downtown Crit was great, as it always is. If you didn't get down in time to see the Kids Crit, particularly the 3-6 year olds, do yourself a favour and  make sure you do next year. It was mayhem! There were at least 150 kids all ringing their bike bells and thrilled to be riding downtown. The purity of their enthusiasm, the flat out joy of the simple pleasure of riding a bike is something we all can and should reconnect with. Add to that the chance to have their picture taken with Ben, our National Crit Champion, in his jersey and his "super human" quads, these kids were over the moon! For those of you who don't know my professional background it started with Event Management and I have the good fortune to produce events around the world. Rarely, if ever, have I felt the energy that was in the air at the end of the Kids Crit. We should all be very proud to be able to put on something like this, it was simply amazing!

So that brings us back to the subject line "Funny Things Happen on the Road". Most of you know Mark Michalski, he doesn't come out to all the races, he is super strong, a terrific family guy, a really good mountain biker, a strong running and a general good guy. His wife Marie might be more familiar to many of you, she comes out to lots of races and is a regular at spin classes. Bear with me while I put today's events into context

Two years ago it starts with "in incident" some of you may know that story, some may not. Mark & Marie showed up at Penticton for the 1st time. They arrived 4 or 5 days in, the rest of us were already getting pretty tired having done a bunch of the huge rides already. Oh have I ever mentioned it before COME TO PENTICTON, BOOK THE TIME OFF NOW, it's about the most fun you will ever have on a bike.

So were are finishing up a long ride, coming back from Osoyoos to Penticton, into a headwind, this is just transportation, getting home at the end of a long day and we have our biggest group with a wide range of ability levels. Mark (he of fresh legs) gets to the front and is setting pace that is shattering our group (in fairness he honestly believes he is just helping get the group home faster) that was not the outcome. So I fell compelled to ride up through the group and calmly and politely suggest we back off the pace so that some of the crew could stay in contact. That works fine until Mark gets to the front again, same deal, I ride up and this time I bit more emphatically make the same suggestion. The 3rd time is happens I have been told that what came out of my mouth makes "Gangster Rap" sound like Sesame Street (I swear I was calm and composed). This time Mark goes to the back and asks Trev for a refund on his jersey and wants my address so he can come kick my ass. To his undying credit Trev assures Mark I am a good guy, but when I bonk it gets kind of weird. 

I then spend the rest of year trying to demonstrate through my actions (at least when I am not bonking) that I am a decent guy. This year, in Penticton it comes full circle. I am on the front, on the same stretch of road and who else, but Mark rolls up and tears a strip out of me, while laughing his ass off and, finally we are good, I have a clear conscious.

That brings us to today... I have been shelled in the Cat 4 race (thanks to both Tom for picking the course and his brother Stephen for setting a merciless pace) and I am minding my own business getting a long base training ride in, when the Cat 5's are overtaking me. I move to the extreme right side of the road, as in the only thing right of me is gravel and the ditch, and sit up, so they can move by without interference, when to my astonishment 2 guys pass on my right! Bear in mind these guys have seen in up the road for about the last 45 minutes (they didn't come by very fast). Evidently no one in the group said "rider up" or signalled to move left (but I digress). As I am looking to my right in astonishment, I am forcibly struck from behind. 

In what I can only speculate might have been one last misguided attempt at final retribution Mark tried to insert his shifter in the same part of my anatomy that, that witch border lady felt the need to inspect (OK so me veering 2 metres to the left for no apparent reason may have in some small way have contributed to the situation) Let's put it this way if Mark has been 2 cms to the right, no amount of bleach would clean those handlebars! (As the old joke goes "it didn't kill him, but it damn near rectum")

The good news is we both stayed upright, we gave Andy in the commisaire car some great entertainment and btw I have strongly encouraged Marie to take care of her man at home. There's a lot I will put up with but an unwarranted attempt at sexual assault, there I draw the line.

Thanks for reading, I hope everyone had a great weekend, be proud, our club did a great job both in terms of results on the road and in terms of the races we put on!

Going To The Sun Road/Logan Pass Ride

Saturday, August 18, a few of us are doing the Logan Pass Loop in Montana. Start and finish in St. Mary. The loop is 220 km with 3110 M of climbing, including Logan Pass. This ride is special, not to be missed if you can make it. Be ready to ride at 10 AM in St Mary. Plan on about 8 to 10 hours riding, there are several stops along the way for food and whatever you like to drink in Montana.

You can drive Friday evening to St Mary, Cardston or Waterton to make Saturday morning a bit more relaxing and a nice American breakfast before you depart. Watch out for the opening hours of the border crossings, they are not open 24 hours. Going to the sun road also has restrictions, that's why we don't leave earlier than 10 AM. Let me know if you are interested, leave a comment or email me at mikehealy at shaw dot ca. Here is my Garmin file from last year.

Untitled by whisperingmike at Garmin Connect - Details

Alberta Cycling Super Week Criterium Results

Results here.

The results don't tell the whole story about the evening. What an amazing kid's race!  It was so great to see so many little people out there on their bikes! Over 100 kids out on two wheels.

All the volunteers were amazing, ensuring the confidence of the racers of the safety of the track to be able to focus on crushing the course. The corner marshal duty was an endurance event last night for sure.

One amazing endurance event performed last night was Dennis Bland as the solo lead motorbike. Dennis had to focus every lap of every race. Thank you very much Dennis. Not only is his company dB Performance head sponsor of the event, but he was out there ensuring it's success. Thank you very much!

We sure pulled together as a team to host an amazing evening of racing. I was really happy to be part of it.

Alberta Superweek GC going into the Criterium

GC Results found here.

Leaders jersey wearers to watch tonight:

Women 1/2/3: Julie Beveridge (Cyclemeisters)
Women 3/4/5:  Jenn 'Spread the Love' Joss (STC)
Cat 1/2:  David Stephens (Garneau Evolution)
Cat 3: Fraser Mills-Connery (RMCC)
Cat 4: Dylan Pinter-Findlater  (RMCC)
Cat 5:  Kurtis Bond  (Independent)

You know you are a Cat 5 when...

So, you may of heard that some yahoo wiped out on the hill climb yesterday.  Ya, I know how stupid.  I couldn’t believe it either… as I was laying on my back at the corner of the hill climb…  wondering how I wiped out…

Anyhow, I was more than a little frustrated with my little incident yesterday.  As I was taping up my rear end (me, not my bike), I realized as bikers, sorry “cyclist” we often take ourselves too seriously.  OK, maybe it’s just me.  Anyhow, I felt the need to take a step back and recount some (yes, there are many more) of the… well, let’s call them “cycling faux pas” I have done in the past year as a Cat 5.  Some of these are more recent than I care to admit.  Enter my list of you “know you are a Cat 5 when”…

You know you are a Cat 5 when…

•  someone compliments you on your Cat 5 tattoo and you genuinely say “thank you”

• you are very happy with a triple chain ring on your bike…  so nice on hills!!!!

• after shaving your legs you continually bump into doorways because you are no longer able to judge the distance between objects

• you buy a new helmet and can’t find the visor that should have come with it

• you see someone crumpling up their race number and wonder why they dropped out of the race right after registering

• your legs cramp so badly during a road race that you need to stop; all the time wondering if you are allowed to ask one of the wheel cars for a ride home

• someone starts talking about echeloning and you are uncertain if the conversation is still about cycling or if it has drifted to military tactics

• you are unable to find a pocket for your gels on that new skin suit you are wearing.  The small one is just for keys in case you are wondering…

• what the hell does “neutral wheel” mean???

• you wipe out in a crit and don’t take the free lap…. Remember this one.  Could be useful someday.

• you wipe out during a hill climb race… Admittedly this one is probably only me.

Anyhow, I thought I’d share my leanings as a Cat 5 racer and say thanks to all those on the STC team who have gently taught me about this great sport… without outright laughing in my face.  

A special thanks to Trev who would only glance down, smile and make a simple joke unsure if my question was really serious but, letting me know the answer.

Hill Climb Results

Results here.

Nothing but stellar reviews from the course!  Wow was hard. That was a 'no groove' course.  Congratulations to David Stephens and Bailey McKnight for CRUSHING IT !! I can't even grasp doing that course in 6:37 ?!?!  Holy cow.

Thank you to all our great volunteers!

See everyone at the Criterium!

Stephen Kenny about to float up the Springbank Wall.

Jenn Joss on way to defending her GC position!

The toilets are there and LIVE results! It's officially a race!

Just heard word from ABC Waste Management they have dropped the toilets in the parking lot of the warm-up area in the parking lot of the arena/highschool! Please use these and not inside the building.

Also, there will be LIVE results for tonight's event !!  By the time you get back to the parking lot and fire up your iPhone, you will be able to see how you did!

See everyone tonight!

Hill Climb start list. It's go time !! READ TECH GUIDE!

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Hill Climb start list.

PLEASE READ THE TECH GUIDE before driving to the race.

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It's our turn !!

It's our time to shine guys !!

This is OUR Weekend! Let's show racers we know how to host a race!

Don't forget the Kid's Race!!

Who's going to take these home?  The white ones are the Kid's Medals.

Volunteers for THIS SUNDAY REQUIRED !!

Team, thank you to everyone for making the volunteer process so painless for us so far.

The biggest positions that haven't been filled so far are for the follow cars. The follow cars are needed to drive the Commissaires around the course behind the pelotons while they keep track of the racers. At a miminum we need 4 more people to volunteer to drive a Commissaire around. Ideally, it would be great to have wheel cars as well.

Please go to this link to sign up!

Thanks everyone.

The Circuit Race

Before I start my long winded race report. Thank you to the Niklas Group for putting on a great weekend of racing.  I know how much effort goes into holding one event let alone 4.  Great job.

I came into the Circuit Race with apprehension.  Those of you who know me, know that I don’t do crits.  My lamo excuse is that I’m afraid of crashing, which is true but all that speeding up and slowing down over and over again… I mean really!  This was the first Circuit Race and since it’s in my own back yard and it only has two corners, how could I refuse.

After a disappointing road race the previous day, I was not really pumped like I should have been.  My leg had cramped rather drastically on Saturday and my attempt to hydrate and electrolyte myself back to normal lead to an endless pee session all night long.  Having the bladder of a small rodent and fretting about the corners, I slept poorly as I’m sure many do before a race.

The 1^st Lap

I figured I would do one lap, see how I felt, then lounge about and hope to get lapped.

The field was full but I was glad not to see the guy in the cotton shirt or the guy with the cross bike from the day before. Not that I’m opposed to guys giving it a whirl, I give them credit for showing up... I’m just sayin’.

I started at the back of the pack and quickly realized that this was not a place I wanted to be.  I know everyone says that you need to be at the front in a crit if you want to be safe. Although this is true, in my experience it’s easier said than done.  I slowly moved up as we neared the first corner.  I was impressed at the gentlemen like approach on the first corner and everyone was slowing and giving adequate space for a nice line through.  Unfortunately, I was not near the front and had to engage every muscle including my colon and small intestine to catch the pack.  Enlightenment #1: stay near the front for safety and leg preservation.  By the time we reached the second corner I had wiggled my way up to the top 10 riders or so and easily hung on the pack.

Lapp 1 was completed.

Lap2

Lapp 1 had gone better than expected.  I was still full of self-doubt but my legs miraculously didn’t have any spasms and my heart and lungs were enjoying the middle of the pack.  Through the winding road of the south end I found a nice line that allowed me to move up to the front.  Hopefully I was not ticking anyone off in the process but after 3 and one half years of racing, I’m getting pretty adept at moving through the pack…. at least in my mind.  The strategy of moving towards the front prior to the corners was paying off.  The youngens were laying it all out in the front and I was happily cruising in the middle.  Sure, call me a slacker, fair enough.   My trepidation was starting to drain away and I was beginning to enjoy this.  OK, I’ll do one more lap.  The laps following were relatively similar.

The Bell Lap

I managed to weasel my way close to (but not on) the front of the first corner.  The fellows were holding nice lines (other than an incident with an unsuspecting pylon) and my mo-jo level was good.  As we approached the final corner, things were a little more bunched up.  I didn’t get moved up as far as I was hoping and I was boxed in a little too long and ended up near the back of the pack.  A tactical error on my part but that’s how it goes sometimes.

THEN!

A line opened up the right side of the road.  With 500 meters to go it was perfect timing.  Imagine the angels going “AHHHH!”, the clouds parting, sun shining through.. it was enlightenment #2… sometimes you get lucky if you hang in there.

My lungs and legs had all the guns they needed to really crank it up.  I was ready. A quick check to my right and I was full on the gas.  The tall fellow just ahead of me had the same view and pulled across my bow.  That was ok.  I would let him haul me up to the front.  Life was good.

Then, out of nowhere, he was cut off.  He locked up his brakes so hard his back tire was off the ground at about eye level.  I was just to his left but heading for his rear tire.  I slammed on my brakes.  In an instant, I had the impending vision of me with a lot less skin than I had only few moments ago.  In what seemed forever, his back wheel was off the ground.  My back tire was locked up and I was hard on the front brake. I don’t know who he was but his bike skills were excellent as he landed his bike safely.  There was a great deal of swearing and cussing from this fellow which was probably justified.  He was mad that he was taken out from the sprint.  As for me, I was glad to have my epidermis in one contiguous piece. Enlightenment #3  Shit happens.

It’s rare that I can be in and have the guns for a sprint so getting shut down was disappointing. But I was pretty pleased that I was there and ready to hammer at the end.  I may not have been first for sure, but I was certainly in the game. 

Tom

Sat. morning 'Criterium Volunteers Ride'

Wendy and Brenda have organized a big ride Sat. morning for all the people volunteering at the Criterium Sat night.  Get in a solid ride before watching the race !! Details here.  Great idea.

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Start list for ACSW Crankmaster ITT

Here is the startlist for tonight's timetrial!

Startlist.


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New Course for JayLap Hill Climb

Due to extremely last minute, unexpected, and unforeseen logistical reasons, the Hill Climb route has been changed. Luckily, we have a crack team of super volunteers in our STC stable that unleashed their collective experience and resources and together with an extremely supportive Rockyview County, we have come up with an alternative route!

The new route is still almost in town and is a climb that the club has wanted to use for several years. Parking will be at the Springbank Park for all Seasons / Highschool located on Springbank Road. PLEASE read the updated technical guide.

Our team is pleased to offer you this new route in light of the new insurmountable obstacle on the original course presented to us this week. Thank you very much for your understanding with this issue. Thank you to all the teammates that have come through for Alberta Cycling !

Speed Theory Cycling

Below is the new route:

Cat 5 ers

Who's racing and what?

Tom Cat 5
TDB RR
TDB Circuit Race
Cranky ITT
JLapp HC
JLapp RR

Any chance we could strategize before the RR on Saturday?  Meet at 9:00 am in the parking lot.  Look for my old blue VW.

Calgary Herald Article on Superweek !!

Here is an article on Superweek to share around the office.

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